ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY 



631 



Table 3-1 

 Distribution of Dehydroacetate in Tissues of the Dog" 



Tissue 



Blood 



Kidney 



Intestine 



Heart 



Spleen 



Muscle 



Liver 



Cerebrum 



Lung 



Cerebellum - 



Bile 



Spinal fluid 



Colon 



medulla 



° From Woods et al. (1950). 



that dehydroacetate in the diet of rats markedly potentiates the develop- 

 ment of caries (Zipkin and McClure, 1957, 1958). Dehydroacetate at 0.1% 

 in a cariogenic diet or drinking water (corresponding to around 5 mg up- 

 take per day) increases significantly the frequency of caries. It is suspected 

 that the cariogenic action of dehydroacetate may be related to its secretion 

 in the saliva, but the mechanism is unknown. 



ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY 



Dehydroacetate has been used widely the past few years as a food pre- 

 servative, especially against molds, and is certainly one of the safest and 

 most effective. This has stimulated extensive work to determine the mini- 

 mal growth inhibitory concentrations for various microorganisms, some of 

 the results of which are summarized in Table 3-2. Two things are imme- 

 diately evident from this table. Dehydroacetate is in general a rather weak 

 antimicrobial agent; it is of practical value because of its low toxicity. It 



